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The EU laboratory in Weybridge has announced that the bird flu virus discovered on a farm in Suffolk earlier this week is the potentially deadly H5N1 strain.

Reports have suggested that more than 2000 birds have died on the farm near Halesworth in Suffolk and further birds have been slaughtered as a precautionary measure. This is the first incident affecting farmed poultry in the UK. It is not known how the virus was introduced to the sealed rearing units at the farm but it is believed that a migrating wild bird must have found its way into the one of the sheds.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural affairs said earlier today that there was no immediate risk to humans but staff at the farm were being monitored and restrictions had been put in place to limit the movement of birds.

It is thought that the Government has placed an order for a vaccine to be used on healthcare workers in the event of an outbreak of a human form of bird flu. A stock of Tamiflu, the anti-viral of choice, has been ordered to cover around 25% of the UK population.